Five Minute Friday{And Then Some} :: Opportunity

It's back! 
After a month long hiatus for the December holidays, Five Minute Friday has returned. Last night was a lovely party {#FMFparty} on Twitter with some of my favorite ladies on the web. It was a real treat to my extroverted, words-of-affirmation heart. You should TOTALLY join us one week...for the party and the word scramble.

It's hard and beautiful and lovely and scary.
And I hate to ever miss one week!

So without further ado......



I've been dreaming a lot lately.
This has been pretty amazing.
For awhile I thought I had lost the dreamer,
the artist,
the soulful girl,
the Anne-girl of my childhood.

But God is faithful and good and gracious
to renew and restore and fill us up again.

So I have been dreaming.
Of the future.
Of the year to come.
Of the days ahead.
Of the now.

I am full up with possibility, opportunity, and the light at the end of the tunnel.

I do not know if I will become an author, a counselor, a professor, or a graphic designer.
I am not sure if I will move to Alaska or Colorado or Timbuktu or even stay here in small town Maryland.
I have no idea if we will have six children or one, if they will be foster or adopted or biological or all of the above.

I am not sure.
I am not sure about a lot of things.
This used to scare me.
Some days it still does.
A lot.

But lately, the pot has been stirred and I am bubbling to the brim with the open doors that I can just make out on the horizon.

It is a mystery,
where they will lead,
what mountains and valleys that I will travail,
which beautiful hardships and gifts will cross my path.

But somehow...in the mystery...for the first time, in a long time....I trepidatiously, with outstretched arms, step forward into the Light, knowing that His fingers are at holding my palms leading me on.

P.S. Had a "little" more than 5 minutes today...was just on a roll and HAD to finish!! ;-)

Coming Home

Walking through the sea of faces in the crowded airport luggage claim, I search for that familiar face, one that reminds me of laughter and Gilmore Girls, deep talks and code names, late night antics and long distance phone conversations into the wee hours.

And suddenly there she is. I would know her anywhere. This friend of my heart, kindred spirit for many a year now.

We hug. We smile. We set off on our weekend of adventure and mirth.

We travel to the top of the world.

We set off on our own personal dragon.

We rely on our new chauffeur - GeePerS - to guide us through highways and city streets.

We re-live the atrocities of war, hate, & violence through the eyes of the 6 million souls silenced less than a century ago.

We meet Lincoln, Washington, and host of long ago quiet voices that shaped this great nation.

We sweeten our palate with delectable treats from the sisters.

We watch Raising Hope, Once Upon A Time, and The Imaginarum of Doctor Parnassus; eat peanut butter crackers, Fruit by the Foot, sweet and salty bars; and GeePerS our way to two different Wal*Marts two nights in a row.

But mostly, we laugh.

And laugh.

And laugh.

From the most mundane to the deepest secrets, nothing is off limits, nothing is left unspoken.

Being with a girlfriend, a best friend can make you feel -- safe, loved, accepted, understood.

Kind of like coming home.

Wordless Wednesday: NYC!

Linked up with Wordless Wednesday, Live and Love Out Loud, Woven by Words, Better in Bulk, The Divine Miss Mommy, and Project Alicia

Finding Jesus When I Travel

I walked into the restroom at a Taco Bell on my way to Washington -- Washington D.C., that is -- and I saw the tile on the floor. Suddenly, I was 14 years old, walking through the Sunday School hallways at my childhood church, and I couldn't help but smile. I glided back to our table in this mysteriously, strange, small town, and I pondered the amazing ability for random smells, sights, tastes, etc, to take you to a place and time so far removed from the present moment.



Traveling is like that too. There is an "other-worldly" feeling that you get when you are neither HERE nor THERE. My mom says that when she is flying between Haiti and the U.S., she takes advantage of that time where she feels no pressure or stress or responsibilities in that moment and she can just be or even read, which she rarely has time to do.

The feeling for me is slightly different. I like feeling that I can be WHOMEVER I want to be in that moment. I feel the release of expectations of being what I need to be or others need me to be. There is such a freedom in feeling "lost on purpose." I think I actually like being "just a face in the crowd".....for JUST a little while.



I think that is why I love airports, subways, train stations, etc. It's funny how much I enjoy being in airports, especially now as an adult, since they have held equal amounts of sadness as they have happiness for me since I have flown anywhere from twice to eight times a year since I was 3 months old, usually always leaving someone that I love behind. But now, I love being in these places, where human emotion is so raw and real, and while we are all strangers passing by on our way to our "lives", we are also connected by these organic, common feelings. Although we are interlopers in each others' worlds, I am reminded every time I am in an airport/crowded city street/train station/public transportation vehicle that we are not SO different. We are just people who feel, who love, who care, who worry, who stress, who dream, who wonder....no matter where we come from, what our background is, or what our stories are.

Ultimately, I think I see a little more of Jesus in these moments in the faces, the heart aches, the loves of each person.

He LOVES them.

Just.

Like.

He.

Loves.

Me.

And I think that is pretty cool. ;)

Whirlwind Weekend in NYC

My blog has been kind of quiet since Mom and I went to the wedding of my adoptive brother in New York this weekend....



....and then spent a whirlwind few days in NYC!



Oh how I love Manhattan!



More details on my trip to the Big Apple coming soon......!

I See Their Faces....

I was going through my foreign country souvenirs today as I helped to prepare for the 1st annual gala event that my family is hosting for their organization, Evangelistic World Outreach. We are holding this event on the anniversary of the earthquake one year ago to continue to help with rebuilding the rubble...turning the ashes into a thing of greater beauty.

As I was looking through my souvenirs, I could remember exactly where each one came from -- the photo album from Thailand, the leather mirror from Columbia, the wicker purse from the Philippines, the monkey balls from South Africa, the hand carved pencil from Malaysia, the $40 guitar from India, and my beloved, Haiti -- paintings, shells, tap-tap (public transportation), hand painted boxes, etc.

I was in awe of the fact that in spite of the struggle with my health this past year that has also affected my memory at times, I could clearly remember almost every item numbering in the dozens from these precious countries. It excited me and amazed me!

And I realized why....the souvenirs represent the faces to me -- the faces of the children laughing, the faces of the mothers weeping, the faces of the fathers softening to the words of Jesus, the faces of God's beautiful people around the globe.

So as we remember what happened in Haiti today, I remember how God's hand is so poignantly poised to move and work not just IN THE NATIONS but TO and FOR THE FACES.

I like that.

Haitian Proverb: Bay kou bliye, pote mak sonje.
Translation: The giver of the blow forgets, the bearer of the scar remembers.

Nou sonje.....We remember (the faces).

Reverse Culture Shock

We have been back in America for a week and it is so funny how as much as I have travelled and transitioned from culture to culture over the years, I am still surprised when I experience culture shock. As much as I missed the "American" way while living in South Africa, I realize that I had adapted to the South African way more than I realized.

While doing laundry, I find myself asking, "Why is the (tumble) dryer SO big??"

While planning meals, I find myself confounded on what I used to make here, which spices I need, and how to budget in dollars.

While interacting with people, the realization that for me and Arno, being from two different cultures, means one of us is ALWAYS different and doesn't "quite" blend in. Now Arno is wearing that hat....

....and more things that are still revealing themselves to me.

Reverse culture shock is so very strange. How can you forget the culture that you grew up in --well, sort of grew up in -- the culture of my family, at the very least, the culture that I lived in for 10 years before moving away?

It is quite the phenomenon that as hard as it is to adjust, once you do, you are different, changed -- for LIFE!!

So again the transitions come.....

Have you experienced culture shock travelling overseas or even coming back home? What are some things that you have done to help yourself adjust?

Another Chapter Ends...

Since I last posted, we packed up our belongings in our beautiful house to prepare it to be an investment property, we travelled to gorgeous Cape Town (more on that in another post) with Arno’s parents, and we re-packed for the 3rd time in the last 10 days.

And now…...

Today is the day that we leave on a jet plane, not knowing when exactly that we will be back again.

I wrote a few weeks ago about how life is a bittersweet symphony, and it is true. I feel that keenly today.

My Facebook wall is filled with mixed messages…

from
“I don’t want you to pack” and “I miss you already”
to
“I can’t wait to hug your neck” and “I am counting down the days.”

And so the pages turn….

But love....love carries on. It is not quantifiable; it cannot be measured by the color of your skin, the place you are born the language you speak, or the way you style your hair.

While America is the country of my passport , my accent, & my immediate heritage, Haiti is the country of my birth & my original “people” and South Africa is the country of my husband, my adult maturing, & some of my BIG TIME grace learning. So no matter what country I find myself in, there are people that I will miss and others that I will hug and have coffee with (figuratively since I don’t actually drink coffee). :) :)

So here’s the thing: When you truly love people, saying goodbye is NEVER easy.

And while tomorrow, I will hug my sister for the first time in 9 months (and I can’t wait), there are “sisters” (and brothers) here whose embraces I may not feel for just as long or longer and my heart truly feels that sorrow.

I will miss biltong and pepperdews and fresh avocado MOST of the year
I will miss no humidity basically year round.
I will miss the diversity of cultures and languages all in one place.
I will miss living in our God-given house.

But mostly I will miss the faces…..
…the faces of the children greeting me on Sunday mornings

…the faces of my disciples walking through the door of our house on Monday nights

…the faces of my leaders challenging me in the Word and laughing at LIFE

…the faces of “my boys” as I walked into the office every day, into the sanctuary they called the Wisdom Academy

...the faces of friends JUST happy to see MY face

...the faces of diversity & culture, of laughter & sorrow, of joys & fears….

So today, I say, “Goodbye, Rainbow Nation!”

But just for now…..

I will see you again soon!

You can count on that!

30 Days of Hope: Day 29 - My Dreams, Pt 1

Yesterday I shared some quotes on dreams. Dreams are the language of hope. They are how we share the desires of our heart, the plans for our future, and the vision that will brings our tomorrows.

I have never thought of myself as a dreamer. I am a planner. I am an organizer, but not a dreamer, not a visionary. I worked for my uncle for 7 years at a ministry called The Promise Land and later at The Tabernacle, the church that he established and currently pastors. I remember him telling me one day, "Lindsey, you say you are not a dreamer, but you are." I looked at him puzzled of course. He said, "Do you know how I know? Because you always know what will work or won't work in a plan and aren't afraid to say it."

Hahahahahahaa....not sure if that is good or bad, but I think he had figured out something about me that I didn't know about myself. Although I am practical...I, too, am a dreamer.

DANCE
When I was a little girl, age 2 to be exact, I used to dream of being a ballerina. I was scared to take dance in Haiti because the French teachers there were quite intense, so I opted out. When I was 12, I took a summer class during my school vacation in America. I enjoyed it, but that was the end of it. Then, the year that I turned 22, I had finished college, was working full time, and decided to take dance classes full time. I got to dance in a recital that year and the theme -- Dreams DO Come True....I know, maybe cheesy, but perfect for me.

THE ONE
When I was a teenager, I used to dream of being married. I would go outside at night and gaze up at the stars and dream about that special someone looking up at the same stars dreaming about me too. I know. I know. Classic. Cheesy. Boring. But hey, I previously admitted to my hopeless romanticism. Now that I have married a South African, I KNOW that given the 7 hour time difference, we were not looking at the stars at the same time, but that doesn't ruin the dream for me. It took about 10 years from that time, but I am now married to my McDreamy! :)

TRAVEL
The love of travel was probably always there, but really developed fully in my college years. I started going somewhere, anywhere every Fall and Spring Break as well as some summer breaks -- Arkansas; Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; Los Angeles, California; Denver/Co Springs/Boulder, Colorado; Dallas, Texas; Maine; Rhode Island; India; Phillippines; Thailand; Malaysia, and of course Maryland and Haiti. Since then I have travelled to Columbia & South Africa and previously to Jamacia. I have travelled to 34 of the 50 states, travelled to 10 out of over 250 countries (SO NOT close yet), lived in 3 countries, and had airport stopovers in 3 other countries -- doesn't really count, I know, but a notable mention nonetheless. Travel is in my blood, and I hope to keep travellling A LOT until the day I go on my FINAL DESTINATION. :)



Check back in tomorrow for my conclusion on "30 Days of Hope" as well as my reveal of the biggest dream of my life and the journey that God has had me on while I am waiting to see that dream fulfilled.

In the meantime, please share some of your dreams -- fulfilled or unfulfilled -- let's learn, grow, rejoice, and journey together!!